diagnose-before-plan

name

diagnose-before-plan

description

Diagnose failures before creating a Prime Agent plan. MUST USE for bugs, CI failures, test failures, regressions, incidents, broken behavior, root cause, RCA, or debug-why requests before deciding whether to plan; preserve language, reviewer, and criticizer settings in .git/optim-plans; exclude ordinary feature planning, direct implementation-only, factual/explanation, trivial command-only, or explicit no-plan requests.

Diagnose Before Plan

Use this skill for problem or failure inputs that need diagnosis before planning.

Setup

1. Read ../_shared/references/prime-planning-workflow.md, ../_shared/references/state-and-config.md, and ../_shared/references/plan-artifact-template.md.
2. Use .git/optim-plans for controller state and docs/optim-plans/YYYY-MM-DD-topic/ for public artifacts.
3. Preserve reviewer and criticizer settings for any selected planning skill.

Diagnostic Workflow

1. Inspect available evidence first: repository files, logs, tests, command output, stack traces, recent diffs, CI output, environment details, and user-provided symptoms.
2. Produce an in-message RCA summary before asking whether to plan. Use at most 5 Whys. Stop with unknown when evidence is insufficient.
3. Ask one choice prompt in the configured language:
   1. Create the scoped fix plan - recommended when evidence supports a planning path.
   2. Stop after RCA - keep the diagnosis only.
   3. Other.
   4. Auto-complete.
4. On opt-out, stop after the summary. Do not write PROBLEM_ANALYSIS.md on opt-out.
5. On opt-in or Auto-complete, select the smallest fitting planning skill and continue with that skill's contract.

Level Selection

• create-a-small-plan: clear root cause, obvious fix shape, few local files, limited risk.
• create-a-plan: multi-file fix, external API or dependency behavior, compatibility concerns, or research needed.
• create-a-big-plan: cross-system failure, unclear root cause, redesign pressure, or high recoverability risk.

After opt-in, write PROBLEM_ANALYSIS.md in the selected run artifact directory before PLAN_v1.md and pass the RCA summary into the selected planning skill.